First, a disclaimer. We really don't know what happens in a lot of these cases. We did not witness any of these occurrences. We are not here to 'debunk' anything that has happened. Some of them have no rational or logical explanation. Nor are we here to authenticate or endorse any of the views expressed by witnesses, except if noted otherwise. They know what they saw, and we can only understand that they believe what they are relating to us. We are merely throwing this out into the public arena and you will be able to make up your own mind as to the validity of any of the subjects discussed on these pages.

A vision is similar to a miracle in that what is being seen is not explicable by any natural means. Many so-called visions are passed off as natural phenomena, or mass hysteria, but there are some visions on record that defy any attempt at a rational explanation. There is even photographic evidence that is hard to ignore in some cases, although photographs are, with good reason, not to be taken at face value.
When trying to rationalise or explain these phenomena, we have to take into account all factors in every case. Who is the person reporting the event? Are they reliable? What would they have to gain by presenting this event? Are they skilled and intelligent enough to formulate or plan a fraud? Who else witnessed it? What evidence is there that it really took place? Can science explain it? And so on. We have to ask these questions as we all have a desire, however repressed, for knowledge of the unknown. Who hasn't wondered if there really are ghosts? Or UFO's? Poltergeists? We want to know the truth, as to know there is definitely life after death would be a huge comfort to those who fear what happens when we die, and a huge boost for just about every religious Faith on the planet. Maybe this is why miracles and visions both fascinate and scare us at the same time. We want to know, but we fear knowing. What we can say is that almost 100% of cases presented for ratification will be declined. It is easy for science to expose many cases. Sometimes, an event may have taken place but there just simply isn't the evidence to support it. Often, cases are reported in countries with deeply superstitious and uneducated people. It doesn't take much for a seemingly innocent event to take on mammoth proportions as rumour and stories spread through surrounding villages. Soon thousands of pilgrims flock to the event site, thus catching the notice of the worlds media, and soon there are thousands more. What may start as a simple natural phenomenon, such as Ball Lightning or other rare event, can suddenly assume miraculous status due to the 'Chinese Whispers' effect*. When all said and done, science explains a lot of these cases. We don't doubt that scientists can also 'colour' their findings depending on what agenda they may have. Anybody can take any given situation and angle it to their way of thinking. Thus we have religious people declaring miracles and scientific people debunking the same event. A classic case would be The Shroud of Turin. For many hundreds of years this relic was regarded by those who believed as the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. There have been thousands of studies done on the shroud over the years, both philosophical and physical. The shroud is reputedly the most investigated relic on Earth. Church officials in Turin refused to have the shroud examined due to its extremely delicate condition. There have however been rare occasions when the shroud has been made available for limited testing. Sceptics have slammed the shroud as being a cleverly crafted medieval fake, while many are convinced of its authenticity. Indeed, many of the scientists who set out to prove fraud have changed their minds once they delved into the findings from the various studies done over the years and have become believers. Even today it is revered by some and decried by others, with test results being disputed as surely as the origin of the shroud itself. To those who believe, no amount of evidence is going to sway them. The same holds true for those who don't believe. This is why it is so difficult to have miracles and visions ratified by the authorities.
Another annoying fact about these events is that they never appear to be witnessed by the 'experts' who perhaps could explain them. It is the same as Scully always being busy or looking the other way when the aliens dance in front of Mulder then fly off in their spaceship. Almost all events put up for ratification have not been witnessed by professionals or experts in science or religion, but by ordinary people, and maybe this is why the Church is so loathe to believe and ratify miracles unless they are exhaustively researched by their own 'experts'.

*Chinese Whispers is a party game where people sit in a circle and the first person thinks up something like a movie title, a poem or similar and whispers it to the person immediately next to them, but only once. That person relays what they heard on to the person next to them and so on. When it reaches the last person that person tells the group what he thinks the first person said. It is usually very different. This is because most people interpret what they hear differently. There have been cases of wars being started because messages were passed verbally from one messenger to another, often resulting in the receiver getting totally different information from what the sender intended.